The articles came after her husband, billionaire investor Bill Ackman, spent weeks pressuring her alma mater, Harvard University, to oust the president. Initially in response to her husband’s claims that she mishandled anti-Semitic incidents on campus, but later in response to reports that she had previously committed plagiarism, Inside. At one point, Ackman wrote that Harvard students who committed “much less” plagiarism than Claudine Gay would be expelled from the university. Gay resigned from the presidency last week.
But when Business Insider raised plagiarism concerns about his wife’s work, Ackman accused the publication of unethical journalism, promised to review the writer’s work, and told the publication: predicted that it would be “bankrupt and liquidated.”in 1 social media postHe said the Business Insider investigative editor, whom he called a “known anti-Zionist,” could have “happily led this attack” because Oxman is Israeli. hinted.
Neither Mr. Ackman nor Mr. Oxman responded to requests for comment, but did not point out any factual errors in the article.
Still, Ackman’s complaints appear to have caught the attention of German media giant Axel Springer, who owns Business Insider. On Sunday, the company issued an unusual statement acknowledging that the article was factually correct, but saying it would “review the process” leading up to its publication.
“While the facts of the report are not in dispute, questions have been raised over the past few days about the motives and process that led to the report, and we take these questions very seriously,” the statement said. It’s dark.
Business Insider staff were surprised by Axel Springer’s statement, but many didn’t know it was coming until a New York Times reporter announced it. shared onlineAccording to a Business Insider employee who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak publicly, a person familiar with Axel Springer’s operations spoke on condition of anonymity to protect company confidentiality. , and said Business Insider was involved in drafting the statement.
In an email to employees Sunday afternoon that was reviewed by The Washington Post, Business Insider global editor Nicholas Carlson appeared to dismiss the idea that the article needed a review. Mr. Carlson wrote that he “welcomed” the review, but he argued for the newsworthiness of the article, given Mr. Oxman’s status as a “renowned academic” and founder of a start-up company.
“I made the call to publish both of these articles,” Carlson wrote. “I stand behind our story and the work that went into it. I know our process was sound. Our newsroom is motivated by truth and accountability. I know that.”
Business Insider has a history of aggressively reporting on the rich and powerful, including a 2022 article alleging Elon Musk exposed himself to a flight attendant, which Musk called “politically motivated.” “A hit work based on the movie”. Reputation is not an issue for Axel Springer, at least in public. Axel Springer bought the site in 2015 for $450 million and is also the owner of Politico.
But the controversy surrounding the Oxman story appears to touch on an issue that is very important to Axel Springer and its CEO Matthias Dopfner: Israel.
The company openly supports Israel in a way that is unusual for a nonpartisan U.S. media company. Axel Springer employees in Germany, but not in U.S. facilities, are required to sign a mission statement affirming, among other things, Israel’s right to exist. In 2021, an Israeli flag was flown in front of the company’s offices for a week after Dopfner mandated it as a statement against anti-Semitism and ordered anyone who had a problem with the flag to leave the company.
A person familiar with the Axel Springer discussions said company executives believed that reporting on Ms. Oxman consisted primarily of simple comparisons between Ms. Oxman’s publications and the documents she allegedly plagiarized. However, there are concerns that it may have been anti-Semitic or anti-Zionist.
Mr. Ackman did not raise factual issues with the article, but claimed that Mr. Ackman and his wife were not given sufficient time to comment on the second Wikipedia article about plagiarism in the space of about two hours late Friday afternoon. did. His publicist was contacted for comment before the article was published. However, Ackman first made the Wikipedia allegations public by posting about the impending article on social media about an hour before the article was published, potentially impacting Business Insider’s publication schedule. be.
While Ackman has stirred up plagiarism allegations against gays, he has also questioned whether deleting numerous paragraphs from Wikipedia is itself considered plagiarism. In a series of 5,100-word posts published Saturday night in said.
“I don’t think it’s plagiarism, nor do I think it takes anything away from her work,” he wrote about his wife’s Wikipedia plagiarism allegations.
Axel Springer’s statement raised concerns from some reporters about Business Insider’s ability to proceed with the investigation. Former Business Insider reporter Julia Black said in her social media post: Said She was “very upset” and worried that reporters covering wealthy people would no longer receive support from the company.
“I sincerely hope that this is not a new precedent, but a mistake from which we learn,” Black wrote.
